Systems and Methods for Improved Teacher-Parent Communications

The present invention relates to systems and methods for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a report for a parent from a note and a prompt from a teacher.

Teachers have used many different methods in trying to keep parents informed of their child's progress. As an example, teachers have scheduled meetings with parents, such as a parent-teacher conference, to provide an opportunity for a discussion about a student's academic performance, strengths, areas for improvement, and overall progress. However, it is not practical to hold these in-person meetings very often, resulting in parents not receiving timely information about their child.

Teachers have also sent periodic progress reports or report cards to parents, summarizing their students' achievements, grades, attendance, and behavior. These reports provide a snapshot of students' progress and facilitate ongoing communication between teachers and parents. However, these progress reports are time consuming for the teacher to generate and often arrive too late for timely action to be taken by a parent.

Many schools utilize communication apps or online platforms to share updates, announcements, assignments, and grades with parents in real-time. However, they require the parents to log into a system the parents are unfamiliar with making the information difficult to access for many parents and the information is often overgeneralized and does not, for example, provide daily information to the parents.

Teachers may send emails or newsletters to parents, providing updates on classroom activities, curriculum topics, upcoming events, and opportunities for parental involvement. However, producing emails for each student is very time consuming. Newsletters by their very nature do not provide specific information regarding a particular student, giving parents only a very general understanding of how their child is doing in their class.

In addition to written communication, teachers have made phone calls to parents to discuss students' progress, address concerns, or provide individualized feedback. However, parents typically do not want frequent phone calls from a teacher (unless there is an emergency) and it may be difficult for a parent and teacher to be available at the same time. In addition, preparing for a phone call (where any topic could be raised) can be time consuming for the teacher.

Some teachers use homework or assignment logs to track students' completion of tasks and share this information with parents. However, this information is usually not very timely or detailed, thus not allowing parents to take timely action when needed.

Teachers may maintain classroom websites or online portals where they post class materials, resources, assignments, and grades. Again, due to time constraints and/or technology constraints it is difficult for many parents to access these resources and these resources tend to be generalizations of performance over extended periods of time.

Applicants have discovered that there is needed an improved method for a teacher to inform a parent in a timely manner of their child's classroom progress.

Accordingly, the invention is directed to systems and methods for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a customized report for a parent from a note and a prompt created by a teacher.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the figures.

Most teachers have back-to-back classes with 5 to 10 minutes breaks in between. The teachers do not have time to write down a class summary for each student after each class session. If the teacher leaves this for an end-of-day task, it might take much longer to recall and compose a customized report for each student. Even most tutoring sessions do not end with the tutor drafting and sending a customized report to the parent due to the time it takes to generate a customized report. It also does not look very professional if the teacher or tutor tries to save time by sending a short bullet-point note to the parent.

An advantage of the present invention is that the teacher/tutor, in a very short period of time, can have a professionally looking customized report sent to the parent in a timely manner.

The teacher may access a web interface on an online educational platform after completing a class or a tutoring session for a student. One or more servers of the online educational platform may receive a prompt, e.g., a desired format or style, and a note, e.g., specific details regarding the student's performance in the class from the teacher. In other embodiments, the online educational platform may receive a note from the teacher, but the prompt may be created by the online educational platform and may not be changed by the teacher. In another embodiment, the online educational platform may receive a note from the teacher and may give the teacher two or more prompts to choose from as options, possibly using descriptive icons from which the teacher may select a desired prompt.

A Regular Expression (REGEX) may replace a learner's name with a non-personal identifiable information token (non-PII token). The REGEX may also remove other PII in the note.

A Large Language Model (LLM) may be called and receive the prompt and the note after the REGEX removed the PII. The LLM may generate a report based on the prompt and the note. The REGEX may replace the non-PII token with the learner's name in the report.

The one or more backend servers via the web interface on the online educational platform may provide an opportunity to the teacher to edit and/or approve the report for distribution. The one or more backend servers may receive and add any edits from the teacher to the report. If the teacher approves the report for distribution, the one or more backend servers may electronically transmit the report to the parent. If the report is not approved by the teacher, the report is not sent to the parent.

This Summary section is neither intended to be, nor should be, construed as being representative of the full extent and scope of the present disclosure. Additional benefits, features and embodiments of the present disclosure are set forth in the attached figures and in the description hereinbelow, and as described by the claims. Accordingly, it should be understood that this Summary section may not contain all of the aspects and embodiments claimed herein.

Additionally, the disclosure herein is not meant to be limiting or restrictive in any manner. Moreover, the present disclosure is intended to provide an understanding to those of ordinary skill in the art of one or more representative embodiments supporting the claims. Thus, it is important that the claims be regarded as having a scope including constructions of various features of the present disclosure insofar as they do not depart from the scope of the methods and apparatuses consistent with the present disclosure (including the originally filed claims). Moreover, the present disclosure is intended to encompass and include obvious improvements and modifications of the present disclosure.

The following detailed description describes a system and method for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a report for a parent from a note and a prompt from a teacher and is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the disclosed subject matter in the context of one or more particular implementations. Various modifications, alterations, and permutations of the disclosed implementations can be made and will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined may be applied to other implementations and applications, without departing from scope of the disclosure. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the described or illustrated implementations, but to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the described principles and features.

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present disclosure, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawing(s), and specific language will be used to describe the same.

Appearances of the phrases an “embodiment,” an “example,” or similar language in this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment, to different embodiments, or to one or more of the figures. The features, functions, and the like described herein are considered to be able to be combined in whole or in part one with another as the claims and/or art may direct, either directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly.

As used herein, “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “is,” “are,” “characterized by,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-ended terms that do not exclude additional unrecited elements or method steps unless explicitly stated otherwise.

As used hereinafter, “teacher” should be broadly construed and specifically includes a teacher, educator, instructor, professor, mentor or tutor. In other words, a teacher is anybody that performs an educational activity with a student (which may last less than a day, e.g. a half hour or an hour, or may last several days, weeks or months) and then desires to inform the parent(s) of the student on how the student performed during the educational activity.

As used hereinafter, “parent” or “parents” should be construed to include biological/legal parent(s) and/or any other legal guardians of the child (who is the student) who are entitled to receive a report containing class information regarding the student.

1 FIG. 180 170 Referring to, a system and method for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a report for a parentfrom a note and a prompt from a teacheris illustrated.

160 100 Online learning is a method of learning that utilizes digital technologies and the internet. It enables students to access educational materials, participate in lectures with a teacher, complete assignments, and interact with teachers and classmates entirely through an online educational platformusing a user electronic device, such as a computer, laptop or smart phone. This mode of education can involve synchronous learning, where real-time interaction occurs through live video conferencing, and asynchronous learning, where students access pre-recorded lectures for classes and course materials, such as videos, at their own pace. Online learning offers flexibility in scheduling, accessibility to a wide range of courses and instructors, and the ability for students to learn at their own pace. However, it also presents challenges such as the need for self-discipline and potential technical issues.

170 170 170 In-person learning with a teacherinvolves face-to-face instruction where a student (or a plurality of students) receives personalized guidance and support from the teacher. Typically conducted in a physical setting such as a classroom, library, or private study space, this approach allows for direct interaction, immediate feedback, and tailored instruction to meet the individual needs of the student. The teacherprovides one-on-one attention, clarifies concepts, offers additional resources, and assists the student in achieving their academic goals through interactive and dynamic teaching methods. This traditional form of education fosters a close student-teacher relationship, facilitating a deeper understanding of the subject matter and promoting active engagement in the learning process.

100 100 120 In the development of an online educational platform, the hardware infrastructure to support that online educational platformincludes many computer components (generally referred to as backend servers) working in conjunction to support delivery of educational content, facilitate interactive learning experiences, and ensure robust performance and reliability. The hardware elements for such an online educational platform may include but are not limited to 1) one or more servers to execute and support core application logic, databases, and content repositories, 2) networking hardware to enable remote communication between devices, where such hardware may include routers, switches, and firewalls, and 3) data storage and retrieval systems, such as network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area networks (SAN), that provide scalable and fault-tolerant storage capacity for hosting educational content, multimedia files, and user-generated data.

1 2 FIGS.and 100 130 170 To illustrate an example of such an infrastructure,illustrate an online educational platformthat includes a notes, prompts and reports databasethat stores corresponding notes, prompts and reports received from one or more teachers, with each teacherassociated with one or more students, with each teacher/student pair associated with one or more notes, prompts and reports.

100 140 140 140 140 The online educational platformalso includes a web interface. The web interfacemay be a user interface that allows users to interact with web-based applications or a website through a graphical interface displayed in a web browser. The web interfacemay consist of visual elements, such as menus, buttons, forms, and other interactive components, that users can interact with to perform actions or access information. The web interfacepresents content and functionality in a structured and accessible manner, enabling users to navigate, input data, and interact with the underlying system or application. It may incorporate various design principles, such as responsiveness, accessibility, and usability, to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience across different devices and platforms.

100 110 110 110 110 The online educational platformalso includes a Regular Expression Engine (REGEX). REGEXmay be configured to implement one or more pre-determined regular expression string matching rules or templates. A regular expression is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern, used mainly for pattern matching within strings. It consists of a combination of letters, digits, and special characters that define a specific pattern to be searched for within a larger body of text. The REGEXprovides a powerful and flexible means of searching, matching, and manipulating textual data based on specific criteria, such as finding all instances of a particular word or pattern, validating input formats, or extracting relevant information from a string. For optimized performance, a REGEXshould be run on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

100 150 100 250 100 150 250 150 250 150 250 150 250 150 250 1 FIG. 2 FIG. The online educational platformmay access a third-part Large Language Model (LLM)(third-party LLM) as shown in, such as using an Application Program Interface (API) offered by the third party, or the online educational platformmay include an LLMintegrated into the online educational platformas shown in. An LLM,is preferably a sophisticated artificial intelligence system designed to understand and generate human-like text based on vast amounts of training data. The LLM,may leverage advanced natural language processing techniques and machine learning algorithms to analyze and comprehend the structure, semantics, and context of textual input. By processing extensive corpora of text, which can include books, articles, websites, and other sources of written language, the LLM,may learn patterns, associations, and linguistic nuances inherent in human communication. This enables the LLM,to generate coherent and contextually relevant responses to user queries, engage in conversations, perform language translation, summarize information, and undertake various text-based tasks. For optimized performance, the LLM,should be run on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and/or a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU).

170 180 100 170 180 140 100 Teachersand parentsmay access (transmit to and/or receive information from) the online educational platformusing any desired type of electronic device. As non-limiting examples, the teachersand/or parentsmay access the web interfaceof the online educational platformusing a computer, laptop, or smartphone.

3 4 FIGS.and 180 170 Referring to, an example system and method will now be provided for a system and method for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a report for a parentfrom a note and a prompt from a teacher.

170 170 170 A teacherand a student (with or without other students) may engage in any desired format of a learning experience. The learning experience may be online or in person. As non-limiting examples, the teacherand student may have a class, tutor session, direct instruction, facilitated discussion, small group activity, one-on-one instruction, and/or hands-on learning session. During the learning experience the teachermay evaluate how the student did during the learning experience.

180 180 Parentsoften want to know how their child did during the learning experience for many possible different reasons. As non-limiting examples, parentsmay want to monitor the progress of their child, support the learning of their child and/or identify strengths and weakness of their child to help in the development of their child.

170 180 180 180 170 180 180 180 Teachersoften want to keep the parentsinformed on the status of their students to keep the parentsengaged, supportive and involved with the learning process, provide early intervention options to the parentswhen the student is struggling and provide individualized support as the needs of every student are different. If the teacheris a paid tutor, the tutor may desire to keep the parentinformed and engaged to help retain the parentand child as customers. However, many teachers have a limited amount of time to keep the parentinformed of their child's learning experience progress.

180 170 100 170 530 520 500 520 170 530 100 120 140 100 300 310 5 FIG. To help improve this situation, a system and method have been developed for an artificial intelligence (AI) teaching assistant to generate a report for the parentfrom a note and a prompt from either the teacheror the online educational platform. Referring to, a teachermay enter a note into a note fieldand a prompt into a prompt fieldin a web page. In other embodiments, the prompt fieldmay be used to direct the teacherin how to complete the note fieldand the prompt may be generated by the online educational platform. Once submitted, one or more backend serversmay receive the note and the prompt via the web interfaceof the online educational platform. (Stepsand)

6 8 FIGS.- 8 FIG. 8 FIG. 170 100 170 170 170 810 820 170 Referring to, another embodiment is illustrated. In this embodiment, the teacherdoes not have to enter the prompt. One, two or a plurality of different prompts, that have been tested and found to generate desirable reports, may be saved by the online educational platform. In some embodiments, the teachermay automatically use the one provided prompt. In other embodiments, the teachermay be given a list of two or more prompts that may be used, preferably with a descriptive title identifying the prompts. As a non-limiting example,allows the teacherto select a prompt that produces a more “descriptive”report or a prompt that produces a more “concise”report. Whileshows two possible prompts, in other embodiments, any desired number of different prompts may be selected by the teacher.

6 FIG. 600 530 540 610 530 170 530 600 510 170 170 530 170 540 540 540 170 530 Referring to, a web pageis displaying an example note in a note fieldalong with an active “Show me the magic” iconand an inactive “Send Note to Family” icon. In practice the note fieldwould be empty prior to the teacherentering the note in the note field. The web pagemay be used to enter or receive other types of data in other types of fields, but the “Note Maker” tabhas been selected in this example. The illustrated example note entered by the teacheris: “—Today we covered fractions;” “—He showed great focus and attention;” “—He struggled with common denominator work;” and “—Homework pages 4-6.” After the teacheris satisfied with the note in the note field, the teachermay select “Show me the magic” iconto start generating a report. It should be appreciated that the “Show me the magic” iconmay be labeled in any desired manner. As a non-limiting example, the “Show me the magic” iconmay be labeled “Generate a Report” or any other text or image that cues the teacherthat a report may now be generated based on the entered note in the note field.

7 FIG. 700 720 100 170 540 540 710 Referring to, a web pagemay be displayed with a busy iconwhile the online educational platformis generating a report after the teacherhas selected the “Show me the magic” icon. The “Show me the magic” iconmay be changed to an inactive “Making the magic” icon(or as another non-limiting example, a “Generate a report” icon may be replaced with a “Generating a report” icon).

320 330 A Regular Expression (REGEX) may be used to replace a learner's name with a non-PII token in the notes as the notes may contain the student's name and possibly other personal identifiable information (PII). The PII of the student should be protected for many different reasons. As non-limiting examples, the PII may raise privacy concerns, security risks, legal compliance issues, trust and reputation concerns and ethical considerations. It is thus preferably removed by the REGEX. (Step) In addition, the REGEX may also remove other PII from the notes. (Step)

170 340 150 250 150 250 150 250 150 250 170 An LLM may be called and given the notes and the prompt from the teacherfor the student. (Step) The prompt for the LLM,may be a specific input provided to the LLM,to generate a report. The prompt may serve as a cue or instruction that guides the LLM,in producing a text-based output, i.e., the report, according to a desired format or style of report. The prompt can take various forms, including a sentence, a paragraph, or even a structured set of instructions, and it typically contains the necessary context, information, or criteria for the LLM,to generate a relevant and coherent report in the desired format. Typically, the same prompt may be saved and used by the teacherfor many different students in the same class.

150 250 150 250 The notes for the LLM,are preferably specific for each student's performance during the learning experience. The LLM,uses the notes to generate a report that is customized to the student.

150 250 350 150 250 150 250 The LLM,may produce a report based on the note and the prompt. (Step) To produce the report based on the prompt and the note, the LLM,may follow any desired steps. As non-limiting examples, the LLM,may perform one or more of the following steps.

150 250 170 The LLM,may receive the prompt and the note as input. The prompt may serve as an initial cue or instruction, providing context and guiding the generation process. The note may contain relevant information, such as the teacherprovided performance data of the student.

150 250 150 250 The LLM,may analyze the prompt and the note to understand the context, objectives, and requirements of the report. The LLM,may identify key information, themes, and relationships within the input to inform the generation process of the report.

150 250 150 250 150 250 Using the LLM's,understanding of the input context, the LLM,may generate the report text based on the prompt and the note. The LLM,may synthesize the information from the note, incorporates relevant details, and structures the report content according to the specified format or guidelines provided in the prompt.

150 250 150 250 The LLM,may expand upon the information provided in the note by generating additional details, explanations, examples, or insights to enrich the content of the report. The LLM,leverages its knowledge of language patterns, domain-specific terminology, and logical coherence to produce coherent and informative text for the report.

150 250 150 250 Throughout the text generation process, the LLM,may utilize its language modeling capabilities to ensure grammatical correctness, fluency, and coherence of the text for the report. The LLM,may generate sentences, paragraphs, and sections that flow naturally and convey the intended meaning effectively.

150 250 150 250 After generating the text for the report, the LLM,may conduct internal checks to assess the quality and relevance of the output. The LLM,may evaluate factors such as factual accuracy, coherence, clarity, conciseness, and adherence to the prompt and the note.

150 205 The LLM,may present the generated report text as output, which may include structured sections, headings, subheadings, bullet points, or other formatting elements as specified.

120 100 150 250 400 The one or more backend serversof the online educational platformmay receive the output, i.e., the report, from the LLM,. (Step)

410 The REGEX may replace the token in the report with the learner's name. (Step)

8 FIG. 140 100 840 800 170 420 170 530 540 840 Referring to, the web interfaceof the online educational platformmay provide the reporton a webpagefor the teacherfor review. (Step) The teachermay edit the notes in the note fieldand select the “Show me the magic” iconto generate a new reportbased on the edited notes.

120 140 800 170 840 840 430 The one or more backend serversvia the web interfacemay receive one or more edits on the webpagefrom the teacherto the reportand update the reportaccording to the teacher's edits. (Step)

170 300 840 170 170 840 800 430 170 840 170 170 840 840 170 840 800 170 810 820 170 840 810 820 170 800 840 The teachermay enter and edit the notes (step) to create a new reportas many times as desired by the teacher. The teachermay edit the reporton the webpage(step) as may times as desired by the teacher, until the reportis approved by the teacher. In some embodiments, the teacherdoes not personally edit the report, but he reportmay be updated by the teacherselecting another icon that generates a new reportbased on a new style. As non-limiting examples, webpagegives the teachera “Descriptive” iconand a “Concise” iconthat may be selected by the teacherto generate a new reportbased on which icon,is selected. It should be appreciated that any number of different styles with corresponding icons may be presented to the teacherfor selection on the webpageto generate a new reportbased on the newly selected icon.

170 100 As a first example, a prompt, either entered by the teacheror provided by the online educational platformas a template prompt, may be “An Outschool teacher had a 1:1 session with a learner and has some notes to share with the parent. From the notes of the teacher, create a progress report in a few paragraphs, for the parent of the learner to read.—Use all information in the notes.—Do not include any information that is not in the notes.—Do not include a greeting or sign off.—Keep the report concise and avoid elaborating beyond the information provided by the teacher.—Use a warm language, try to avoid dry corporate like style.”

170 176 182 The notes entered by the teacherin the first example may be “Samuel passed on his Essential Elements songs and has started 2 new ones, Pop Goes the Weasel and Surprise Symphony, numbersand. He can continue to practice Etude in his Suzuki book. He worked hard reading the notes for Etude, paying close attention to what string the note is on. Well done.”

840 176 182 The reportgenerated based on the provided prompt and the provided notes in the first example may be “Samuel has made significant progress in his music lessons. He has successfully completed his Essential Elements songs and has enthusiastically started two new ones, namely ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ and ‘Surprise Symphony’, which are numbersandrespectively. In addition to these new songs, Samuel can continue to practice ‘Etude’ from his Suzuki book. He has shown great dedication and effort in reading the notes for ‘Etude’, demonstrating a keen attention to detail by carefully identifying the string each note is on. Overall, Samuel's hard work and progress are commendable. His dedication to learning and improving his musical skills is evident in his practice and performance. Well done, Samuel!”

170 100 As a second example, a prompt, either entered by the teacheror provided by the online educational platformas a template prompt, may be “An Outschool teacher had a 1:1 session with a learner and has some notes to share with the parent. From the notes of the teacher, create a progress report in a few paragraphs, for the parent of the learner to read. Have a warm/happy/bubbly tone.—Use all information in the notes.—Do not include any information that is not in the notes.—Do not include a greeting or sign off.—Keep the report concise and avoid elaborating beyond the information provided by the teacher.—Use a warm language, try to avoid dry corporate like style.”

170 The notes entered by the teacherin the second example may be “—Covered ½, ¼, and ⅛ fractions in class today—good engagement; emerging mastery in word problems—didn't compete homework; needs to practice more—this week: Homework pages 6-8”

840 The reportgenerated based on the provided prompt and the provided notes in the second example may be “Your child made some wonderful strides in our session today! We dove into the world of fractions, specifically focusing on ½, ¼, and ⅛. Your learner showed great engagement and is beginning to master word problems involving these fractions. It's such a joy to see their understanding grow! However, it seems that the homework wasn't completed this time around. Homework is a crucial part of the learning process as it helps to reinforce what we cover in class. So, a little more practice outside of our sessions would be beneficial for your child's progress. Looking ahead, we'll be working on pages 6-8 for this week's homework. I'm confident that with a bit more practice, your child will continue to blossom in their understanding of fractions. Keep up the great work!”

120 840 130 170 The one or more backend serversmay store the note, prompt and reportin a notes, prompts and reports databasefor later reference by the teacher.

120 170 840 180 440 170 830 840 180 The one or more backend serversmay provide an option on the webpage for the teacherto approve electronically transmitting the reportto a parent. (Step) As a non-limiting example, the teachermay be provided a “Send Note to Family” icon(which may in other embodiments have any other desired text and/or graphic), that when selected, sends the final displayed reportto one or more parentsof the student.

170 840 180 120 840 180 460 840 840 170 840 180 120 840 180 450 If the teacherapproves on the webpage transmitting the reportto the parent, the one or more backend serversmay electronically transmit the reportto the parent. (Step) The reportmay be sent in any desired digital format. As non-limiting examples, the reportmay be sent as a text message, email and/or a messages API. If the teacherdoes not approve on the webpage transmitting the reportto the parent, the one or more backend serversdo not transmit the reportto the parent. (Step)

100 100 170 100 840 180 100 In some embodiments, the educational platformmay be used to provide feedback via an online platform in conjunction with educational activities occurring through channels other than the education platform(e.g., via in-person live classes or other channels). In other words, teachersmay still use the educational platformto send a reportto a parenteven when the educational activities are not directly related to or performed by the educational platform.

The inventions and methods described herein can be viewed as a whole, or as a number of separate inventions, that can be used independently or mixed and matched as desired. All inventions, steps, processed, devices, and methods described herein can be mixed and matched as desired. All previously described features, functions, or inventions described herein or by reference may be mixed and matched as desired.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variation can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.